Blogging for the Gray Wolf

I live in the Northern Rockies, ground zero for Wolf Wars, where wolf supporters and wolf detractors square off. I’ve been involved in wolf issues since the early nineties. Anyone who’s had the pleasure of hearing wolves howling in the wild will understand my passion. But you don’t have to live in wolf country to appreciate this important apex predator.

Sixty six MacKenzie Valley wolves from Alberta, Canada, were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho in 1995 and 1996. Wolves had been absent for seventy years, they were hunted to extinction in the West and by the 1940’s the last wolf was killed. Since their reintroduction wolves WERE thriving in the Northern Rockies but wolf slaughter ensued in 2009, due to their delisting by the Obama administration. Wolves were hunted mere months after losing their ESA protections. In 2009, 500 wolves died in the Northern Rockies.

We won a major victory when wolves were relisted by Judge Molloy on August 5, 2010 but in 2011 wolves were removed from the ESA by Congress. A rider was attached to an appropriations bill by Senator Jon Tester. 81 Senators voted to delist gray wolves, including all Democrats but three. Please remember these names in 2012 and vote them out of office.

The war on wolves has waged for over a hundred years, it’s time for it to stop! We can live in harmony with the wolf if people would just take the time to educate themselves about this amazing animal and not base their thinking on urban legends or antiquated dogma BUT we must adopt a new paradigm and stop killing wolves for agribusiness.

Howling for Justice is my chance to give back to wolves by dispelling myths, educating the public and exposing the injustice perpetrated against them.

Hi – My name is Cindy Campbell and I live in Wilson, Wyoming, just outside Jackson Hole. Did you by chance ever see or receive one of my Wolf Meditation Cards I did last year? I would just love for you to have one.
Let me know and I will send you a pack (yes pun intended). I produced the card last April after the bloodbath down south in the Cora area took place. I’ve since written a little bio to go with it. Ralph allowed to put information up last year but I feel the strong urge to get more of them out now. Let me know!
With Wolf Howls all around,
Cindy
ps – The videos are stunning and powerful – thank you!

Hi Cindy,
I would love to have your Wolf Meditation Cards, Thank you so much! It will certainly cheer me up, the hunts are always on my mind. My fear is the hunts have stirred up so much rage and anger the SSS crowd has towards them, making wolves even more vulnerable.

I still watch the videos myself, especially The Magnificent Wolf and Wolf song. I live in wolf country and often hear them howling. The Wolf Song video captures them so well.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting time and energy into honoring a wolf you respected, and miss, so much. Clearly you have an enormous heart.

I produced an independent film called “Cost of Freedom,” about a wolf named B36F. I would be happy to send you a copy and link your blog to my site . Perhaps putting the trailer on your blog would help us both, and more importantly, the wolves.

You have my email, lets please be in touch. There is so much work that still needs to be done to protect these poor creatures.

Hi Vanessa,
Your so welcome. I want to help wolves in any way I can. I’ve been involved with wolf issues for many years, watching them after their reintroduction and knew this day would come when they would be delisted and hunted. They’ve gone through such persecution over the last hundred years. I hope Judge Molloy re-lists them and soon!!

I would love to watch your film and will definitely be in touch by email. By all means you can link to my blog The wolves need all the help we can give them.

Hi John..
I think I read that book about ten years ago, I vaguely remember it. I’ll have to pick it up again but I do know it’s about wolves and a woman that tries to save them. I really like Nicholas Evans.

Thanks for the heads up!

FYI…I’m a big Steelers fan and the Steelers are hanging on by a thread in the playoff hunt. I’m watching the game today against the Ravens with my eyes half closed.

Just something to distract me from wolves for a half second. It seems there’s bad news every single day.

Nice website. I must say that I completely adore the attempt to create a place where people can keep up with the news and happenings of what is really going on.

The lack of media exposure on this issue has done nothing but displease me since the hunt started and has left me hoping that the judge will return the wolves to protective status by the end of this.

Hope, hope that the wolves will continue to survive in the face of the evil of the wild life services and livestock agencies that paint themselves as managing the animals while really playing to their own corrupted and short sighted views of human entitlement. The lack of compassion and willingness to allow wildlife their right to live as they should sickens me, as does the unwillingness to stem their own greed and compromise to provide a safe environmental habitat for these beautiful and essential animals.

Hope that one day people will come to realize their own wrongdoings and cease this brutal oppression of one of God’s creatures. People have a responsibility to maintain the survival of another species. The ignorant beliefs that we have the right to “control” a species that is already so sparse, however; because they may challenge the power of livestock corporations and act as impediments to their greed or are beyond these people’s views of an “acceptable” population is so completely wrong. I don’t know how people do what they do or even tolerate these policies.

Yes, I hope, pray and always keep the wolves on my mind. But simply hoping… is it enough? So I have to ask, what can we do? Writing letters that don’t get answered? If that’s all… well that’s better than nothing. What exactly do you all suggest we should write to these people? So that they don’t just send the letters to the trash bin?

Hi GoodTroll…
Thank you for such a moving description of the plight of the wolf and those that are so selfish they can’t see their failed policies. If you want a real eye opener you should read the wolf reports that are on FWP website. It’s unbelievably sad to read the same statistics over and over about this wolf killed from this pack and four puppies killed from another pack, etc. It’s a tit for tat type management that goes on because wolves are collared and they know where they are. They have people tracking them all the time. They appeal to the public to call in if they see a wolf, they have hunter surveys about where wolves are, their is constant trapping, darting and collaring of wolves, flyovers looking for wolves in lethal control actions. It’s like they are fighting hardened criminals that belong in maximum lockup. Yet all this seems normal to the states and WS? It’s like a grand obsession spending tens of thousands of dollars to harass wolves from birth to death. All for cows and sheep. Yet those animals will end up on someones dinner-table someday….just as disposable as the wolves.

I’m glad you stopped by to read and hope you will feel at home here. I’ve tried to make a site for wolf advocates where they feel free to speak their minds without having to worry about defending wolves. I find those arguments so tiresome. It’s the same thing repeated over and over again. I get a lot of mail about hating wolves and it goes right to spam because their is no point in having those discussions.

As for what you can do…I know it’s very upsetting to write to the very people that carry out these actions against wolves and wonder if all your mail isn’t going to end up in the round file. But it does matter for wolf advocates to speak out, to repeat the message that this is not OK. That there are other people that live in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming that love and care about wolves then we might be able to make a difference. Remember the words of David Mech:

“If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes.”.

What wolves need right now is national media attention to shine a bright light on what is happening here. So if you have friends on Facebook, Twitter, spread the word. There is power in numbers. Hopefully we can make a difference. Sign WildEarth Guardians petition to end poisoning and aerial gunning of our carnivores on public land. Every little bit helps. Keep the faith!!

As you probably know that I agree completely with you on collaring wolves in idaho and Montana. I also think it is time to declare the Yellowstone Wolf Re-introduction a success and get the collars off of Yellowstone Wolves. This intrusive obsession with watching everything they do is a joke. I will link to your site on my new blog: http://www.thewildphotographer.com

Larrry…Collaring is one of the worst things that’s happened to wolves. It gets them killed. I was giving the Yellowstone researchers a pass because MacNulty was doing some very interesting work on aging wolves. The population was unique in the world because they were able to live their lives without danger of being blown away if they stayed in the park or close to park boundaries. Now with wolf hunts that’s no longer true. So I agree, lets get the collars off all wolves and let them live in peace.

Can anyone tell the difference between a wolf and a dog?
How about a family pet and a feral animal?
It doesn’t really matter at all for some. Shoot a dog, take a scalp, get some cash and morality be damned:

Thank you so much Luc for that wonderful compliment!! Wolves are my passion. It breaks my heart to see what’s happened to them since they were delisted. We’re all just waiting for Judge Molloy to rule on the delisting lawsuit.

Great News for Indiana!. I knew dingos were a sub-species of wolf but I didn’t know they came to Australia 5000 years ago.

They DNA tested them to make sure they were pure dingo. I imagine wild dingo’s breed with domestic dogs and produce mixes like we have here with the wolf dog. I found this video on youtube of a little Dingo pup being trained at Pet Resorts Australia. Do you know anything about this organization? Is it an animal refuge or a zoo?

I am a poet, artist, and animal activist living in Boulder, Colorado. I’ve created a blog inspired by the Gray Wolf, called Humans for Wolves, a place where people may post their art and/or writing on this subject. I’m very interested in, and appreciative of your work, and have actually put a link to your blog on my site. Is that okay? If not, I’ll take it off, but I know many folks here who would be interested in reading your pieces. Here is the link to my blog: http://humansforwolves.wordpress.com/

It has recently been discovered that Gray Wolves have established a pack or packs in Colorado. There is an effort, this month, at The University of Colorado, Boulder, to educate people on this issue, calling it The Month of the Wolf. Here is a link to the calendar: http://cumuseum.colorado.edu/Calendar/eventslist.php

Good luck with your work, and I hope we can convince the Obama Administration to re-list the wolves before it’s too late. Large predators are absolutely necessary to our environment’s health and longevity!

Hi Suzanne,
Great blog. I’m happy to reciprocate and list your site on my blogroll. I too am an artist and might submit a piece or two to your site. Glad to see you are ready and willing to help wolves. The more people who advocate for these amazing animals the better it will be for them.

Thanks for the heads up on The Month of the Wolf. I’ll do a post on the dates for the events at the University of Colorado!

As for Obama I hold out very little hope he will reverse Salazar’s decision. Personally I don’t think he has any idea what is going on here in the Northern Rockies. His decision to delist wolves has done so much damage yet he has been strangely silent on the issue. This is what we get when he appoints a rancher to the Interior.

Keep up the good work with your blog and glad to see another wolf supporter join in the fight to advocate for wolves.

Thank you so much Nabeki! What you are doing is amazing work, and I truly believe that our combined thoughts and efforts CAN make a difference. Thanks for sharing the info about the CU Boulder lectures!

I am working on a master’s thesis regarding the community discourse in the northern Rockies regarding the status of the gray wolf and will be interviewing a variety of people over the summer. I’d like the opportunity to visit with you, if you’re interested and willing. Please reply to the private email I have listed.

I would be happy to be interviewed about the wolf. If you read the About page on my blog, humansforwolves.wordpress.org, you’ll get an idea of what I’m trying to do. You can email me at humansforwolves.gmail.com directly, as I could not access your email.

Loua that is true. State game agencies should never manage predators because of the conflict of interest. Money from hunting licenses flows into their coffers. Which side do you think they’re going to come down on? It’s like the slogan that “Friends of Animals” uses: “If you kill a wolf to save a moose then you kill the moose you are either insane or in Alaska.” I would say that applies to Montana and Idaho. “If you kill a wolf to save a cow then kill the cow you’re either insane or in Montana.” Or “If you kill a wolf to save an elk then kill the elk you’re either insane or in Idaho” Same thing. It’s the crazy policy of blood lust.

Actually Loua I have to make a correction. The wolf “managment” concerning the hunts is funded partly by licensing fees from hunters. But the killing of wolves for predation is carried out by Wildlife Services, a federal agency. Taxpayer dollars fund the killing of wolves for predation and that is unconsionable, since Wildlife Services is a branch of the USDA and wolves are being killed for agribusiness. To put things in perspective wolves killed 97 cows in Montana in 2009 and there are SIX MILLION COWS in the Northern Rockies. The sensationalism of the media reporting of these non stories only demonizes wolves and encourages the propoganda and hatred that wolves endure. The media should be ashamed of itself. They are catering to ranchers by printing this drivel.

I am so sick of hearing sport hunters and trophy hunters complaining about the ‘quality’ of their hunting experiences due to grey wolves. Oh “we can’t find elk easy anymore”, “the wolves have lowered hunting opportunities” or whatever drivel they go on about – wolves just make their lives so unbearable that the animals must be killed for it. Cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it. They act as if they will starve if they don’t get ‘their’ elk. It’s not about the wilderness experience or ‘respect’ for animals, the majority of evidence clearly points out that its about how much heroism, spiritual significance, family bonding/mateship or wholesomeness they can pack into their hunting story, all the while sidestepping the fact they didn’t need to hunt the animal in the first place.

This subject gets a little personal because back in my childhood, my family didn’t have much. We could barely pay the rent and grocery bill every week – this was WAY before the Global Financial Crisis [obviously], there wasn’t time or money available for this ‘wholesome’ activity known as sport hunting. And no. I’m far from jealous of sport hunters and their bloody experiences, as far as I can tell killing for fun just turns you into something less than what is considered to be a modern moral human being – to put it in the most gentle way possible.

One more thing:
If you want your kids to appreciate nature and spend quality time in the outdoors, go camping if you can and take a camera. Another option: enrol them in Scouts. The group teaches children morals, helps develop their social skills and instils a respect for all aspects of your country.

Thank you John for your wise words. There is absolutely no reason to have wolf hunts. These animals are fresh off the endangered species list yet mere months after being delisted Idaho and Montana were hunting them and also Wildlife Services cpntinues to carry out their ongoing wolf hunts. I consider WS killing wolves to be a form of trophy hunting.

The wolf haters have their way now but it’s not always going to be this way. More and more people are waking up to how important environmental issues are. All we have to do is look to the Gulf to see what bad management can do to the ecosystem.

I worry the children of people that trophy hunt will grow up with a disregard for animals. How could you not if one of your parents is out killing animals for sport? As you said if you want to teach your children to appreciate nature, don’t take them trophy hunting, give them a camera and hike with them in the woods, so they can see the wonder of nature up close as something to be preserved not destroyed.

It is irresponsible and unrealistic to think that the gray wolf can fit into any and all habitat without conseqences. I was & still am in favor of having the wolf in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Comments like yours are only leading to the credability of the wolf management advocate that most wolve lovers are anti-hunters in wolves clothing!

Mike S….It’s not my fault the main detractors of wolves are the major hunting organizations. Look at the rhetoric of the RMEF, they’ve gone from being moderate on wolf issues to anti-wolf. It’s obvious they are playing to their base. Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife are doing the same thing. Demonizing wolves with their rhetoric. How about the Safari Club? How much damage are they doing behind the scenes?

If hunters don’t want to be seen as wolf haters they should write to the organizations that represent them and protest the war on wolves. Hunters are at the forefront of the assault on wolves. There is a new ploy every day to find ways around the ESA and it’s being fueled by hunting and ranching lobbies. Hunting organizations are continually complaining to fish and game about prey declines due to wolves but won’t look at themselves in the mirror. It’s not wolves doing all the killing. Wolves are apex predators, whose main purpose is to cull ungulates, keeping the herds healthy. They can sense weakness in their prey and will spend time sifting and sorting through an elk or deer herd to find that weakness. Human hunters on the other hand don’t possess those skills and kill randomly, which means many times they take the best of the deer and elk herds, further weakening them.

Before wolves were delisted last year I was more tolerant of “sustenance hunters.” After a year and half of listening to the steady whine of hunters calling for more wolf killing, I’ve lost that tolerance.

Gray wolves occupied most of the US before they were extirpated by the feds. They are the native species not us. They were here long before man stepped foot on this continent and they’ve lived with their prey for hundreds of thousands of years. Wolves aren’t the problem, it’s the intolerance of hunting and ranching special interests.

Agreed with you 100% Nabeki. I just wanna make one thing clear. It seems as if hunters think that us pro wolf advocates only care about wolves and not other animals and that simply isn’t true. I am against the hunting of all predators and that includes mt lions, bears, etc. These animals are being killed for sport and because hunters believe by killing them and taking their lives away from them mean that their hunting chances are going to somehow improve. As we all know, a good amount of hunters love blaming predators for when there are low #s of deer, elk, moose, etc. I think most of us can relate to canines a bit more than other animals as some of us are dog lovers and have dogs. I love elk. I would rather see elk alive than dead. Hunters only care about shooting them. Deep down, they care nothing for elk. ranchers are also a big threat to wildlife. Taxpayers I believe are footing the bill for having ws being called in by ranchers to fly around in airplanes shooting native wildlife to death.

Wow John, excellent read. I’m going to post this on the blog. I think this guy is dead on. I think it’s important to explire the link between people that trophy hunt animals for blood lust and serial killing. One of the characteristics of serial killers is they usually start out torturing animals first. Thaniks for the link.

I agree with the statement comparing killing to an addictive drug. The sport hunter becomes addicted to the adrenaline when stalking and killing, however the release of the hormone is brief and the euphoric effect also dulls down over time. So to get more of a ‘buzz’, they need to kill more and more frequently. This may also develop into an emotional dependency or crutch, e.g. stress relief.

Behaviour-wise, the sport hunter shows signs of aggression, protectiveness and evasiveness if the habit is ever brought up or confronted, the same as any common drug user (whether narcotics, smoking, drinking ect). This is only a hypothesis based on observation, mind you.

My name is Aline, I´m from Rio de Janeiro/Brazil and I love animals. Ten minutes ago I was watching at Animal Planet, the documentary about Gudrun Pflueger, Running with wolves. I was so touched by it that I decided to search more information about her work. So your blog came up. I know that I´m really far away, but sometimes its a relief to know that there are people who really care about wild life and make the difference. I´ll keep your blog in my favorites! It would be fantastic to be able to interact with one of these amazing animals…

I watched both episodes of Gudrun, before she had cancer and when she returned to BC. She’s an amazing woman and showed how gentle the wolves were with her. It’s great she was able to have a baby after everything she went though.

I just discovered your blog and I just had to take the time to say “thank you” for all the energy and effort – all the hard work – you have put into all these posts! What an incredible job you are doing; you should be praised for your passion!

Welcome to our pack Kelly….
Thank you so much for those very kind words!! I do have a passion for wolves, they are magnificent animals and so persecuted. I hope you have a chance to read many more posts and will visit often. Howling for Justice and Wolf Warriors is part of a growing grass roots movement to stand up for our native carnivores, particularly the wolf.

Has anyone heard the joke about Sarah Palin getting her own nature show titled “Sarah Palin’s: Alaska” on [TLC] Discovery? The show isn’t a joke, but the fact that Discovery has soiled its reputation by putting such an anti-environmental individual on their channel is.

She wanted to drill in a wildlife refuge, delist polar bears, permitted aerial gunning of wolves and bears – even after petitions were made to halt it – and offered a $150 bounty per wolf foreleg and still Discovery still thinks its ok to give her her own tv series?
So recent Sarah stepped down from her office to live a ‘normal’ life, it would be nice to say she quit at her peak [she ‘burned’ as nicely as any modern garden variety celebrity], but the timing and circumstances preceding her move makes the exit seem more like a rat jumping from sinking ship.

For shame Discovery. Welcome to the blacklist, please take a seat with Nikon and National Geographic.

It’s unbelievable to me John that she would get this show. You listed the litany of reasons why it should never have happened. I am so sick of seeing this woman’s face plastered all over the place. Oh the irony she has her own nature show. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier, they do. I’m boycotting that channel.

Australia a land of many faces
That is what we are
All nations, all types and creeds
Gather beneath our Southern Star

No matter if you’re rich or poor
Live in the city or country
We shrug it off and give you a cuppa tea for stopping by
We look out for our neighbours
And call any stranger mate

What is Australia’s icon?
It is not our many animals or tourist traps
Sausages on the barbie or scarcely dressed bogans
Our national pride is the will to help others
To pass on a beer around with a battler
Give them a good pat on the back
“She’ll be right!”

So on January 26 2011
I say with good cheer
Have a grand Australia Day
And hope it doesn’t rain as bad next year

1. I am not endorsing the overuse of alcohol or the misguided idea that its use will solve problems, you are not obligated to drink just because someone insists you do and if you do drink: do it responsibly (for the under-legal-age kiddies NO ALCOHOL AT ALL. PERIOD.).
2. Not all Australians are so nice as described above
e.g. Free cups of tea may or may not be likely to happen
e.g. Ivan Milat
3. I know this has nothing to do with grey wolves
4. Yes I realise there is a typo
5. This is as patriotic as I get, considering the country is still currently residing on the “naughty” list.
6. The floods of 2011 were a terrible catastrophe, approximately 3/4 of Queensland was declared a disaster area and 22 people lost their lives. May the people affected be helped back onto their feet as soon as possible.

I agree william. The bill is in committee as far as I can tell. It’s up to Boxer’s committee to rewrite it or write a bare bones bill to extend the government for another two weeks to give them more time to sort all this out. If they don’t do that then government shutdown here we come.

U-NAH-WI,All the information I can get right now is that the Washington Post says the vote has been delayed because of both sides differ and that is probably putting it nicely.GOP wants to slash alot enviromental programs and loosen restrictions,but there other things.It is a power struggle.At this moment, I would rather have the government shut down and let everyone really know and understand what we can lose in their deals between them,for we, the wild life and the habitat we live in will be the losers…We will have to fight for the wolves for a long time for there are other bills(rider)coming besides 1713 1702, for Washington and Oregon have bills waiting to be put threw. Win or lose.One keeps on trying and we need to support each other. As for the results form the vote,I don’t know.We just have to keep calling until someone informs us.Right now.I feel like I’m in a horror move and wathching the screen with my hands over my eyes and hesitant to look. Take care.For the Wild ones

I just posted it Rita..the vote on both bad HR1 which contains the “wolf slaughter rider” 1713 and the Senate CR version, which it’s evil twin 1709, will be voted on today!!

The vote starts @ Noon EST. Everyone watch it on C-Span if you can. If either of these bills pass wolves are doomed. My opinion is neither will pass but anything can happen, so continue to flood the Capitol Switchboard with calls to Senators. We can’t lose this fight for wolves.

I thought you might like this… For countless weeks I have posted articles from the HFJ website on the Wolfquest community forums, including the ones that ask for US senators to be called. I have also emailed my state’s senators, Michael Bennet and Mark Udall. Bennet gave me replies, and I asked him to bring a few HFJ articles forth to the senate.

Hi Shannon….Thank you so much for your tremendous effort on behalf of wolves. You are amazing and wolves are very lucky to have you as an advocate. I hope the Senators will listen and stand up for wolves. Our grass roots wolf movement is really picking up momentum because we have dedicated, passionate wolf advocates like you. HOWLS to you!!

Hello Nabeki. I’m not sure if you remember me, I commented on an article a while back. I felt I really needed to inform you guys on this, as it has to do with wolves, but also animal cruelty.

There’s this business, more or less a puppy mill, in Sierra Blanca, Texas, it’s called Wolf Haven Spirit of the Past. The people who run this place are your everyday, ehh… dumbasses. They claim they sell 98% wolves. This is the biggest lie I’ve ever heard. These people are selling mutts, and the claims they make about wolves are insane. If you didn’t catch it they do not sell wolves, if they did they’d be gone, as owning a wolf in Texas is illegal. Anyway, you can probably catch every false “fact” on their website.(http://www.freewebs.com/wolfhavenspiritofthepast/) Anyway, these people only feed their animals once a day, and they give them CAT dewormer. Many people signed a petition to shut it down, a member on Wolfquest reported it to the Texas SPCA, and these people are still here.

Hi Shannon,
Do you have anymore information about these people. Have you physically been to their kennel? I did take a look and it looked very weird to me. Especially the weights of the wolves and that there was something about selling Mexican grays, who are highly endangered. If you could give me more info, I’ll look into it.

I have not been to their home, as I live in Colorado. However, I have called them, and the second I tried to prove any of their facts wrong, the lady got really hostile. If you look at the pictures on their website, you can see puppies with reddish, watery eyes, and horribly emaciated adults walking around a garbage filled yard. Their animals aren’t wolves, their your average dogs. According to them, it’s safe to inbreed, which some of these dogs are inbred.

None of their animals have the slightest trace of wolf in them. They claim their selling Mexican Greys, yet even zoo’s have to have a license to have them, a zoo doesn’t even own a Mexican Grey wolf, their owned for the US fish and wildlife.

Jon, this is so awful, ranchers and hunters, is there never any end to the trouble they want to make for wolves? We posted this on Wolf Warriors and people are very aware of this situation. Thankfully there was a lawsuit filed to try and stop it. People are working on this situation. The Lolo wolves is another tragedy in the making. How can they kill these wolves during pupping season?..not that any time would be right but the babies will starve, they are just being born. What is wrong with these people? This is sick stuff. All so hunters can have more elk to kill. Lord help us as a species. We all knew hell would reign down on wolves if the states ever got their hands on them again. We can thank the Senate and Obama admin. for this.

Thank you for all you do for the wolves! I haven’t been on FB much, but have still been voting on the Wallowa County paper’s poll. (My friend & I have been non-stop…have it up to 62% to leave the wolves alone). Then saw the article ” Agency plans to kill two wolves in Imnaha pack Continued attacks on cattle prompts lethal removal decision”
& went to post it & you are already on it! The fact they they are going to the trouble already to trap them (how just them?) to kill them instead of to relocate is ludicrous! By the sounds of the end of the article, the sheriff, USDA Wildlife, and the ranchers are keeping Us Fish & Wildlife out of it (“they’re too far away”) to stack the deck & do what they want. The calves lost “last spring” were killed before these pups were probably born! And of the 2 cases this year, only 1 has been verified wolf attack!

Darnell..this is all sensationalism…wolves do so little damage to livestock yet every tiny incident is blown out of proportion by the media because it sells papers. I read the other day over a million calves were born in Oregon and 66,000 died from other causes then wolves. Yet wolves were responsible for 5 deaths and they were ready to go after them. I blame the media for this because if the ranchers didn’t have all this publicity about tiny wolf predation incidents they wouldn’t have the leverage they have now. Shame on the media!!

Thanks so much for the warm welcome! I’m glad to be part of the pack of people dedicated to saving the wolf! Our wolves really need all the help they can get now, and I’m very glad to see that people are standing up to protect them!

I’ve been following and fighting for wolves since the early nineties so I knew about Limpy very soon after it happened. The Bush Adminstration had delisted wolves in 2008 and Limpy was killed on that very day, in Daniel, Wyoming near the elk preserve. It was a very, very sad day. A hunter killed a crippled wolf trying to survive. Absolutely heartbreaking.

Hi there Nabeki,
Thanks so much for this fantastic and well done blog. You write very clearly and beautifully. The wolves have a wonderful advocate with you on their side.
It is such a heartbreaking time for the beautiful, innocent and worthy wolves and those of us who have come to respect and love them so much. We suffer together, but continue the fight for justice always.
I too am a devoted and loving wolf advocate. Please google: Robert Goldman wolves ecology. Also, google: Protect America’s Wolves! And you will see a link to my current on-line petition for the wolves.
I hope you will respond to this email. It would be great to talk with you on the phone.
Thanks again so much for your magical work for the wolves.
Bob G

After the killing of the Alpha female of Yellowstone my eyes were opened to the savagery of the wolf hunters. My family hunts deer and elk but I never noticed the hatred they have for the wolf. The facebook page for wolf trappers shows picture after picture of needless killing of wolves. Are we ever going to learn that wolf hunting is unnecessary? I have pleaded with my representatives but they refuse to budge. How long can this go on before we lose them all?

Mark…I wish all hunters thought like you Mark and would speak out. Sadly the wolf killers are rubbing this in our faces. They are on a killing spree and won’t be happy until every last wolf is dead. The only way to stop it is to push for relisting. Nobody in their right mind watching this could think anything else. But it will be a tough battle to get there. There’s big money behind trophy hunting and they won’t go quietly into this good night.

Sadly that is true. After seeing a video of 2 hunters walking up to a wolf caught in a trap and pacing and then getting within 15 feet of it and shooting it in the head and then laughing about it as it died I was sickened. I myself do not hunt but have family in Montana that do and they blame the wolf for them not getting any elk. Wolves have been around for a long time and there have always been elk so they are wrong. I don’t know how to get it across to them all.
Look at the rhino. I can’t see any end to it.

Thank you soo much for working hard to save the wolves from hunters! Wolf hunting is unethical, and the science does not support it! I’m studying to be a conservation biologist right now, and once I’m in the field I am going to research and promote the non-lethal management of wolf and other carnivore populations so that this senseless, inhumane killing can stop! I will also educate people about the biology, behaviour, ecology, taxonomy, threats, and conservation status of the various wolf species and subspecies worldwide – I’ve already been doing this since Congress forced the illegal delisting of the Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf back in April of 2011. I’ve also been doing more research into wolves since that time, and I’m constantly learning new stuff about these fascinating mammals! It is my hope that one day humans can learn to live in peace with all other species, wolves included, and that humans will stop killing off our valuable biodiversity. It is through education that this can be achieved, and it will be my job, as a biologist, to educate people as much as I can so that they can learn to coexist with our wildlife. However, I know that, as a scientist, I will have to stick with the hard-core facts when discussing the topic of hunting and other wildlife management issues, and that I will have to leave all emotions out of it. But, being the emotional person that I am, I can’t just keep all of my emotions to myself; I have to let them out sometime, when I’m not being professional and educational. Which is why I would like to join the HowlingForJustice pack, to have the opportunity to express my emotions over wolf hunting without the criticism that I get for being emotional elsewhere. I’ll try to only write out of emotion, and save the facts for when I’m educating and advocating, but please forgive me if I don’t keep up to this promise, as I am a future scientist. One day I will write out all of the facts that I’ve learned about wolves from my research (so far it’s only been book and scholarly journal research) and post them somewhere online, and provide a link to them here – but that won’t be for a while. I hope that you will let me join the pack, and that we will soon ban wolf hunting forever, and that it is replaced with coexistence!

LittleSongWolf…we need scientists that are truly dedicated to their craft…your aspirations are noble ones. Please research Gordon Haber, the Alaskan wolf biologist, who was killed in a plane crash in 2009. He was a true friend to the wolves of Denali National Park..the wolves lost their champion that day. The problem with wolf “management” (a euphemism for killing them) is there is no science involved when it comes to wolves. The wolves are being killed for political reasons.

Please bring your emotions here, we love and respect your opinion and welcome you into our pack. I hope you will stay with us and fight to save this magnificent apex predator who has every right to exist in this world without persecution. A very sad fact, the wolves have returned to Chernobyl, the site of the worst nuclear disaster, yet even though they have high levels of radiation the wolves are surviving. It’s so incredibly disturbing that the one place wolves are safe is in a nuclear disaster zone. I have heard that on one side of the “the zone” hunters are killing wolves.

I am very well aware about Gordon Haber, his research on Alaska’s Gray/Timber Wolves, and his strong, scientifically-backed opinions on why wolves should not be hunted. I read his scientific journal “Biological, Conservation, and Ethical Implications of Exploiting and Controlling Wolves,” and it is very convincing (not that I needed convincing). It was very useful for my essay on why wolves should not be hunted.

I get so annoyed on how those who support killing wolves call it wolf “management,” as not all wildlife management is lethal. I believe that wolves can be managed without killing them. Scientists just have to get a little creative on how this can be accomplished; they have to “think outside the box,” as the saying goes. One of my tasks as a scientists will be to come up with humane, effective, non-lethal methods on how this can be done. With that said, I believe that wolves (and other species) should only be managed and controlled in areas where human-wolf conflicts have occurred/are very likely to occur (such as ranches) and in areas where wolves are having a negative impact on endangered species (note: this does NOT mean increasing game for hunters). Otherwise, wolves and other predators should have minimum/no management (unless it is to restore their populations). I believe that management, when necessary, should be non-lethal, and that lethal control should be selective and used only as a last resort, when all other options failed and have been exhausted. I understand that you may not agree with me, but I might as well let my viewpoints on this be known. I’ll try not to bring up my opinions on management in my other comments, as the whole purpose of me wanting to write on this site is so that I can just express my opinions, and not have to write academically on issues that I will be dealing with in my work, such as how to manage wolves humanely and responsibly.

I most certainly will bring both my opinions and my emotions here. I don’t have many opportunities to let my emotions on wolf hunting out (without criticism anyway), so it will be nice to have a chance to do so here. Sometimes I just feel like giving up and bursting out into tears over this wolf killing but I know that I can’t as crying won’t do anything and that I just can’t give up!

I will stay with my fellow wolf advocates and fight to the end! Already we’ve lost four wolf subspecies (and many more if you accept the classification of 24 wolf subspecies in America), while others are on the verge of extinction. In addition to that, many wolf populations of otherwise non-endangered subspecies have either been wiped out or are now threatened. We must ensure that no other wolf subspecies or population goes extinct. And, of course, we cannot forget about the suffering that these individual wolves go through due to hunting and trapping. We must fight to ensure that all of their innocent lives are safe from the killers.

That’s interesting on how wolves are living at the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters. I think that there is a DVD about the wolves of Chernobyl (or maybe it was at some Russian plant; I don’t remember) at my school library; perhaps I should check it out and watch it sometime. Just comes to show how adaptable Canis lupus is. But yes, it’s very disturbing how wolves have so few places to live in safety, and that these safety zones include areas of nuclear disaster.

Oh thank you Carina, very much appreciated!! How do I go about accepting it, I looked on the site but not sure where to post the info? You can message me on Wolf Warriors (Facebook). Many howls to you my friend.

Also, I’m author of AMONG WOLVES, about Alaska’s wolf family groups and Dr. Gordon Haber’s research. You can read more about it at: http://marybethholleman.com/book13.php. I’d love to see it listed on your bookshelf!

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Wolf 253, the beloved Yellowstone Druid wolf named Limpy, who was shot and killed in March 08, on the very day ESA protections were lifted for the gray wolf, by the then Bush Administration.